Thanksgiving Travel Airport Survival Tips

Let’s just say you didn’t read up on the best days to travel at Thanksgiving in time for this year’s pilgrimage back to the homestead and you’re stuck at the airport on a day when it seems like all of humanity is sharing the terminal with you. Or, even worse, you did plan ahead but the airport’s a zoo anyway and people are getting bumped from flights right and left.

Rather than giving into the bedlam, rushing the check-in counter, and threatening bodily harm to everyone around you, you can stay a bit more relaxed in these situations if you’re armed with the necessary tools to help you survive the chaos that is Thanksgiving holiday travel at the airport.

Of course, if you’re one of those people who’s hoping to be bumped so you’ve got an excuse for not seeing your in-laws over Thanksgiving (or just to get a free flight or whatever the airline’s handing out as a reward to people who give up their seats), then feel free to ignore all of these tips. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you.

>> And because we know saving money is high on your list of things that prevent stress, here’s how to get a cheap ticket at Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Holiday Airport Tips

1. Travel Carry-On Only

There are people who will routinely tell you to travel without checking any luggage no matter where you’re going or for how long; but even if you ignore them every other time, Thanksgiving is the time to swear off checked bags altogether, for a few reasons.

First, even if you’re not planning on (or counting on) getting bumped from your flight, it’s more likely to happen on busy travel days like the ones around Thanksgiving. If you’ve got all your stuff with you instead of checking it, you’re more easily moved to a new flight and you don’t have to worry about your luggage catching up with you a few days later.

Second, when you arrive at the airport and see the hellacious lines at the check-in counter, you can walk right by them if you’ve got no bags to check and either did your check-in online before you left home or can use one of the speedy computer check-in kiosks for carry-on travelers only.

Third, assuming you get on your flight as planned and arrive at your destination on time, you’re still stuck in the same huge herd of people at the other end milling around the baggage carousel - unless you’re traveling with just a carry-on, in which case you zip past the crowds and onto the holiday feast.

Finally, with nearly every airline introducing or raising fees to check a bag, traveling carry-on only just makes financial sense.

Keep in mind, however, that more people are traveling carry-on only these days, so the overhead bins in many planes get full faster than they used to. Don’t be one of those lunkheads who brings two carry-on bags of the maximum possible size and then puts both of them in the overhead bin to allow for more legroom. Limit yourself to one carry-on bag for the overhead bin, make sure it’s not so heavy that you can’t lift it into the overhead bin by yourself, and stash your other carry-on bag under the seat in front of you like the nice person we know you are.

2. Do Online Check-In

If traveling carry-on is half the battle, then (as mentioned above) doing online check-in before you leave for the airport is the other half. Having to wait in the long check-in line with everybody else because you didn’t do online check-in kind of negates the whole “I’m traveling carry-on only” cleverness factor.

Most airlines will let you check in online 24 hours before your flight, and the sooner you do it the better your seat choices will be, too. Not only that, but with so many Thanksgiving holiday flights being overbooked, checking in early online will help ensure that you get on the plane you paid to get on.

3. Get to the Airport Extra Early

This is especially important if you’re traveling on one of those notoriously bad days to fly, but it’s still a good idea even if you’re a day on either side of those. From roughly the Saturday before Thanksgiving through the Monday after, you can count on the airport being busier than normal.

You may happen to get lucky and zoom past the check-in lines (because you’re following the advice in #1 and traveling carry-on only, right?), happen upon a lull in traffic through security, and wind up with an extra hour to sit at your gate and sip your coffee or read the paper. If this is the case, you could choose to be annoyed that you didn’t sleep in an extra hour, but a quick look around the airport will provide examples of people who did sleep in a little too long and are now running to their gate - shoes off, belt flapping in the wind - as a result.

You can’t assume you’ll be one of the lucky ones for whom everything goes smoothly at the airport, especially if you’re there on one of those unbelievably busy travel days, so it’s just better policy to give yourself even more time than you would on a regular travel day. This way, you’ll have a little extra cushion in case you do end up in a long line or get bumped from a flight. Around Thanksgiving, travel experts recommend that you get to the airport two hours before your domestic flight.

4. Bring Snacks

Although you’re limited with what you can bring through security these days, if you’re going to be spending more time than usual at the airport you probably want to bring a little food with you. This is even more important if you’re traveling with kids, but even if you’re solo having snacks ready at hand can be a good way to reduce stress.

Think about it - there are more people than normal crammed into the same airport, with the same number of food vendors (selling overpriced and often bad food), and everyone’s cranky. Instead of standing in yet another line to pay too much for a soggy sandwich, you can make yourself comfortable (well, as comfortable as one can get in airport chairs) and munch on a favorite snack you brought from home.

As mentioned, if we’re talking about your French press coffee you’ll need to finish that before you go through security. But many snacks are TSA-approved and will sail through the x-ray machines. And even if you’ve brought a beverage from home, if you’ve allotted enough time at the airport before your flight you should be able to find time to finish drinking it before you go through security without having to rush.

5. Be Prepared to Entertain Yourself

Again, this is something that’s critical to think about if you’re traveling with kids, but everyone traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday should be sure to bring along something to entertain themselves. Whether your flight is on time or not, getting to the airport extra early is enough to ensure you’ll have time to sit around before you take off - and if you get bumped from your flight? Then you’ll have way more time than you wanted.

You know yourself best, but some of the things you might consider bringing along to help you get through a busy day at the airport are: reading material, a music player, a deck of cards or other travel-sized game, a knitting project, a portable DVD player, and an inflatable neck pillow. Any of these things can be an excellent way to pass the time, not to mention help you relax.

6. Have Airline Phone Numbers at the Ready

You really hope you don’t need to use this last tip, but just in case your flight is delayed, cancelled, overbooked, or screwed up in some other way, you could become part of the angry mob that’s descending upon the one or two people at the check-in desk in order to get a seat on another flight, or…

If you’ve got the phone numbers for the airline you’re flying programmed into your cell phone or written down on your travel documents, you can walk in the opposite direction from aforementioned angry mob and call someone at the airline instead to have them rebook you. It’s likely to be done more quickly this way, and certainly in a less stressful manner for both you and the people at the check-in counter.

photo by hyku